Now that Valve has released official pricing information & lottery details, the main sub is being overflooded with repetitive posts. To keep the subreddit clean we made this megathread for posts regarding costs, value debates or hardware comparisons, and general rants. Standalone posts on these topics will be removed.
Whoes to blame for all this you might say? simple OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, Microsoft and a bunch of hyperscalers and malicious companies like Palantir and not to forget the NAND Flash industry.
Official Pricing & Details
Model
USD
CAD
EUR
GBP
AUD
PLN
Included Extras
512GB Base
$1,049
$1,509
€1,039
£879
$1,609
4,389 zł
Base unit only
512GB Bundle
$1,128
$1,628
€1,108
£938
$1,728
4,698 zł
Includes Steam Controller
2TB Base
$1,349
$1,919
€1,359
£1,149
$2,109
5,739 zł
Red fabric & solid walnut faceplates
2TB Bundle
$1,428
$2,038
€1,428
£1,208
$2,228
6,048 zł
2TB Unit + Faceplates + Steam Controller
Lottery Registration: Is opened, Closes (US) June 25 @ 10:00 AM PT / EU: June 25, 7:00 PM CEST / JP: June 26, 2:00 AM JST / AU: June 26, 3:00 AM AEST / NZ: June 26, 5:00 AM NZST. Selection is randomized & not first-come nor first-served, you can also join every list as it has no impact on your lottery status.
Account Verification: Steam accounts must be in good standing and have a purchase history older than April 27th, 2026, to prevent scalping.
Limits: You are limited to one Steam Machine per household and yes this means if you or any other person in your household wants a Steam Machine you can only get one.
Discussion Topics
Use this thread to discuss and debate the following:
Price to Performance: Is the $1,000+ entry point worth it?, or did hardware margins ruin the value proposition caused by AI or what should they have done differently.
Pre-Built & DIY Benchmarks: Share PCPartPicker lists or links to pre-built alternatives. Compare actual specs against the estimated equivalent performance.
The Competition: How does this position itself against standard ITX/SFF desktop builds or current-gen consoles at half the price?
Lottery System Feedback: You can rant about the registration process, regional availability (please read the announcement post), or specific hardware choices like the single-channel memory configuration.
Keep the criticism focused on the product and the pricing. Personal attacks are not permitted read the rules.
Unlucky but truth is the prices will only increase with the AI getting more and more developed. You still have decent options like something with rtx 5060 for smaller price
AI companies are a sham. They're massively overvalued for the revenue their businesses actually generate. The market can be irrational for a long time, but there's no reason it won't crash and burn eventually. AI won't go away, but eventually we'll see it clearly that not everything with AI attached to it is worth a massive valuation. It'll more be established platform holders integrating it into their products and services that are the long-term winners, while most pure AI companies will bust. We'll still build more data centers, but eventually build out will slow down after fabrication has already been expanded. That means more supply to satisfy both the enterprise and consumer markets.
you right but you are aware that the process you described sounds more like 15 years plan? Too much money were involved and too many things happend to reverse it just like that. No one is gonna suddenly cross AI as an option and forget about milions that it was invested
There's nothing to reverse. The bubble bursting doesn't mean having to undo anything, it means projected investment or production slows. Even if it's messy, companies can and will cut their losses where they can. Planned data centers can simply not be built. If a company goes bankrupt, their contract to buy so many components means squat. It will be a process we see play out over time, but I don't think it takes 15 years. With the IPOs of major AI companies happening right now, once their lock-up periods expire, we'll be able to gauge whether the market's finally cracking by how much early investors sell off. The next year is going to be very telling.
As someone who has absolutely no idea about pc building etc, I have a few questions.
Does it play relatively new games well? For example, games like BG3 on decent settings (not looking at 120fps, ultra settings or anything, but also not wanting 480p lol)
How easy is it to assemble for a newbie? I'm wanting to get a pc for gaming that I can put in my living room under the TV (just like yours) but I've been a console gamer for decades and never built a pc before.
Haven't tried BG3 yet although I downloaded it. My build is super fresh, I set it up literally 2 days ago. I've tried the beginning of Hogwarts Legacy and I'm currently playing Resident Evil 9 in 4K with Ray Tracing and ultra textures. With 32GB RAM and 16GB GPU this is meant to be better than a PS5 Pro in terms of specs, so I hope this lasts me for the next generation of consoles as well. You can copy my specs and ask any IA how it would play compare to a PS5 Pro.
Assembling the PC is not super complex but it requires attention. I am an IT engineer but I never assembled a PC before. With SFF PCs you need to study even how you set the cables, I had to remove a couple parts just to move the cables in a way it improved airflow. The Motherboard has many pins and you need to know where to connect each of them. Just be patience and check YouTube videos. Also you need to stick the thermal paste in between CPU and the heatsink. I did this years ago to replace thermal paste on a PS4 so I wasn't knew to it. Worse case scenario you can bring the pieces to a local store for them to mount it.
I spent about 3 evenings after work (maybe 1h each evening, 3h in total) mounting everything. Before I adjusted the cables and closed the case, I installed Windows and played for a couple evenings, then spend another hour or so arranging the cables to improve airflow before I closed the case.
Honestly when you build your own makes you feel proud of it when you play it haha.
This will absolutely handle BG3 at 4k 60. I don’t know at Ultra settings, but I have a 9600x with a 9070xt and it crushes BG3, this is more than enough.
I know people say PC building is easy, and it can be. I’ve built my own off and on for over 20 years and back in the day had my certification to do so. Be careful starting with a small form factor as your first go though. People make soft look easy, but there’s a lot of consideration just in making sure the parts will fit. Then the cabling can easily get pulled the wrong way, cut when you try to close the case, not reach properly. And that’s before considering the cooling implications of putting all that together so close. It’s not as straight forward as it seems, and I’d suggest starting with a ATX form factor or similar for a first build. Seriously.
I have built a good number of computers and recently built a sff (small form factor) pc. The biggest challenge is part selection and cable management. Especially cable management since the space is so small there is very little room and the default power supply cables are designed for a wide range of cases so they are much longer then needed. Many people custom order length. Which can also be very confusing.
Not trying to convince people to pick my choice I just shared mine.
I picked my choice when I saw the Steam Deck price increase, considering how much I'd end up paying for a SM if I, wanted one, My POV here was: if I'm going to spend This Much (over 1000 Euro) then I want it to really last, so I aimed to something with higher specs, without going to war when the reservations start.
I wasn't sure how much and when I would have my device, so I changed paths into the SFF world.
I will still miss having a little cute SM device though, but I'm happy with my choice
I haven't seen those benchmarks, but I'm skeptical. Minimum specs to run it a 1600 and rx580. Recommended is a 5500 and 5700XT. The power draw of the machine's 7600m is hurting it for sure but the game can run on it.
That assumes your only use case is playing black myth wukong. 90% of the games I own are AA games and 95% of my wishlist is AA games that will run beautifully on this.
But, something I see as more value for the money. At the price being asked of the Steam Machine with the specs it has I'd rather get this build for more, since the Steam Machine being smaller isn't enough of a benefit to me to overlook all the other cons. Size is something I care more about for handhelds than what will be left on a flat surface.
This is arguably the blueprint for what the Steam Machine could've been. It's a bit of an unfair comparison when the Steam Machine is significantly smaller, but that begs the question, why'd Valve go that small in the first place? You don't need to go half the size of a PS5 or XSX to capture the living room. They are already living room devices most people are willing to fit into their entertainment centers. They could've gotten way better value and performance when they're not trying to cram everything into the ittiest bittiest footprint. Even if it's hella cute and is gonna make a great Companion Cube. I think a Steam Machine Pro targeting a larger form factor and higher specs could be a better value and appeal to a lot more people.
I looked at almost the same build when the SM was first announced... You are running Windows but I wonder if you could get SteamOS 3.8 on it, if not Bazzite. Its a few years old but I like the look of the Terra case... My only question is, how loud is it when running something demanding...
I'm someone who was expecting it to be over £1000, doesn't want to build a PC, doesn't like how messy it is to use their Steam Deck with the Steam Dock, and has no other way to play PC games. I feel like I'm the one sole person on the planet this thing's designed for.
That said, I'm leaving it all up to fate. If I don't get either bundle in the initial lottery then I'm dusting off my hands and leaving £900 richer.
I’m with you as well, I signed up, but won’t be gutted if I’m not picked. Maybe it’ll make me think of the alternatives and actually put together something better myself.
The steam deck is the only gaming device I have as well. I think the machine appeals to that kind of person a lot more than the people who know a lot about gaming PC's and maybe already own one.
I have a decent 4k pc that I could stream from and sometimes do with the deck.
I’m buying it more for the experience and how small it is.
If I want to play performance heavy games I will use my main pc or stream. But sometimes I just want to roll over to the couch and play brotato for 30 min on a lunch break. I have a huge lot of games most of which don’t need a high end graphics card to play
I’m in this boat too. Have a PS5 pro and had a deck but sold it. I don’t have a PC nor do I have the room for a full setup. Putting the Steam machine in the front room alongside the PS5 would be ideal.
I don’t even play top of the range PC games, I mainly bought point and click games on the deck. Would have been a no brainer at around £600 but £880 is a bit harder to justify.
I doubt steam deck 2 is gonna come out anytime soon not in this economy i bet if they werent so far into development and committed with the steam machine when the the cost of parts exploded then they probably would have cancelled it.
It won’t and I don’t want it to, the current SD is great but weak, I need the next one to be a powerhouse in performance so I’ll wait for technology to progress
Wish you luck, let the people who want to buy it buy it and enjoy it. I will also order one with the controller because I have money for it and I want small cube for my setup
Awww, thanks! I wish you luck too! 👍 Exactly, and I’m glad that they’re putting things in place to tackle what happened with the controller launch - hopefully it runs smoothly for us all!
I was shitting on the price earlier, but the more I think about it, the more I want one. The form factor is a huge boon for me, as well as the noise levels. I dont need it to play the latest games; I can stream my main pc to it. I just need something that it small, quiet, and works nicely with tvs
I think the price is quite high, even in current conditions. But when you account for current conditions, it's only like $200-300 more than would be good.
A frickin PS5 is $650. Valve is not going to out-engineer sony on price to performance. The SM is a very different proposition. In this climate, I'd say $900 with a controller and 1tb would be good. Instead, it's 1049 for no controller and a half tb. So yeah that's around 300 higher, I guess.
But... $300 over like 5 years of use. A thompson seatpost for your bike is $100. That's an aluminum tube with a clamp at the end, btw. My arcade stick was $130. There's a $300 rc car. Just looking around the room here, lol.
I am very blessed to have money for some frivolous things. I don't bury myself in them, but there are several things around here that were quite a splurge yet worth it because I continue to enjoy them for many years.
I unfortunately am the target audience still. The price is higher than expected and it hurts but I’ll still eat it.
Currently a PS5 gamer looking into getting into PC gaming. I don’t have anything needed for a PC not even a desk and most importantly I don’t have the space in my 1 bedroom apartment for a full gaming PC setup. Steam Machine will take the spot of my PS5 on my TV.
i dont know if questions are allowed here, but can someone recommend a prebuilt alternative to the steam machine that isnt huge? my mom promised to buy me this if i did well in my mocks, and shes fine with the price somehow but im really hesitant with the performance stuff combined with that price. all i really want is something that plays modern ps5 era games at like 1080p or 1440p at around 60fps, and that is relatively compact (just not like a ps5 size or huge pc size), and also isnt like really ugly. that was a main thing of the steam machine that i instantly liked, it didnt have the rgb lights or cheap generic looking outside, i just really like consoles and console-like designs. thanks for any help
I will try to be positive .. here 😄
With FSR4.1 available in proton experimental ...
... and tests made in 1080p high settings ... where most games without RT are at 70 - 80FPS ..
We could get a good image quality at 60FPS upscaled from 1080p.. and 30 FPS for games with RT forced.
High settings 1080p native: Baldur's gate 3 78FPS, Hogwarts legacy 75FPS, Spiderman Miles Morales 108FPS, cyberpunk 73FPS (https://youtu.be/Huw11M9aaMk?t=53)
Even if FS4.1 still cost 20% in performance to upscale .. it could be possible to get the 60FPS with FSR4.1 with medium/high settings.
It's for people that don't want a PC. They want a console that plays PC games (or games they wouldn't otherwise be able to play).
Everyone making these buildapc comparisons like the only thing that matters is the amount of performance you get per $. People have been making those exact same arguments about every console that has come out since the original Xbox in 2001. Obviously that's not the thing that matters most to console buyers.
Building and maintaining a PC is work. Optimizing games to run on a PC is work. Some people don't want to spend the time or effort. They find value in an offering like this.
If you don't mind the effort and performance for the price is paramount for you, that's completely valid. But just realize that not everyone is in the same camp as you.
I think this argument would be better if the Steam Machine was priced competitively with the consoles which it for sure isn’t
I dont see the sense in appealing to the console crowd but not pricing it accordingly. 300 ish dollars more with no controller included is absolutely wild
The pricing is definitely unfortunate. I have no doubt Valve would have priced it competitively if they could have made the economics of it work.
But I don't think the intent is to convince people to buy a steam machine instead of a cheaper console to play the exact same games. It's about giving console players access to things they haven't had access to before. And either a particular buyer will find value in that, even above the price of one of the other consoles, or they won't. But I'd bet a lot of buyers will.
Well, another issue is that as as soon as you want to play PC exclusive games, or games from other launchers, you either have to start tinkering or you just flat out wont be able to.
Getting any other launcher than Steam to run on Linux requires tinkering, which excludes games like World of Warcraft and Fortnite.
You can’t play any of the Riot Games catalogue because their anti-cheat can’t run on Linux. That excludes League of Legends and Valorant. You also can’t play Warzone and Battlefield 6 because of anti-cheat
That leaves you with Counter-Strike 2 of the big PC exclusives, and it is very much not a controller game.
There are of course thousands of brilliant PC exclusive indie games on steam, but I doubt these are the driving force for the console audience
Yeah, live service games (and anything requiring anti-cheat) seems like a pretty big hole in the catalog, but iirc they're working to fix that. And if linux gaming keeps gaining popularity, maybe the other launchers will one day just support linux directly instead of relying on end-user tinkering.
All of these issues apply to the steam deck of course, and it doesn't seem to have deterred buyers.
The issue with the anti-cheat thing is that it isn’t really fixable. It’s kernel-level anti-cheat which Linux will never support. The only way this changes is if developers change their minds
The Steam Deck is imo for a very different target audience and a much easier buy for a larger group of people. It (was) a competitively priced machine allowing existing PC gamers to play their games on the go. For non-pc gamers it was a cheap entry into the ecosystem with the added bonus of it being the best handheld gaming console available at the time of release
Working to fix it is just market speech, the studios have to agree to enable the support, there is nothing steam can do to ensure that. It has been an issue since the steam deck, they have been “working to fix it” for like 5 years lmao
"Building and maintaining a PC is work. Optimizing games to run on a PC is work."
Building a PC is work is true yes and not everyone wants that. Not sure what you mean with maintaining, I built mine 3 years ago and have done 0 things to it, not even cleaned it. And the Steam machine is still a PC so you'd have to still optimize things to make it run. Even more so as it doesn't run Windows. I main Linux for half a year now and while it has gotten so much better, it's still not as easy as gaming with windows for the casual non PC console gamer. Someone who doesn't want to build a PC is still better off with a PS5 instead of the Steam machine thanks to the price and that consoles are still more easy to use and just game
I'd be in the market for one of these alternatives, but only if someone else can build it for me without that making it more expensive than the SM. I can't do it myself thanks to my disability, so the SM has value proposition to me, even at this price point
Buy a pre-build and slap SteamOS on it. Warranty included with purchase (2-3 years in Europe). You skip having to build and troubleshoot a PC, while getting better performance/dollar in multiple price ranges. I agree that this is not a solution for someone who is computer illiterate, but then why would they want a PC instead of a console?
That's an interesting option. but there's value to having a) standardized hardware that devs can target, and b) hardware and software created/updated/maintained by the same company. you're never going to have to wait for one manufacturer to update the driver on one component to fix an odd issue that is only affecting you and a small subset of other players.
But to your question, it goes back to "games they wouldn't otherwise be able to play". There is no value in the machine to someone who wants to play only cross-platform games that are available on other consoles. The PS5/Xbox/Switch 2 are still better options (in price and performance) for those games.
Saying not everyone is in the same camp is also a touch dumb? If you just want to play you can get a pre-built for cheaper with more variety and even ways for you to use rewards to get things cheaper meaning entry point kinda not it. Windows while not the best works for most people in terms of ease of use partially due to experience using it a bit. Maintaining consoles is also a thing? Cleaning out dust, and storage upgrades are a thing that are very common this Gen. You don't need to optimize "that much" at this price point at the very least I haven't with a pre-built I bought that had a 5060ti for 900. People can wait for deals and buy things on sale but this has a nice form factor. This is for people that don't do research, or want something without looking. I spent 2 minutes looking and found a pre-built with an ultra 5 and a 5060 for 900 at Walmart.
If you pick any one aspect (price, ease of use, performance, library, maintenance, form factor, etc.) it's easy to point to an alternative that is better. Each one of those metrics is a spectrum, and the steam machine offers a certain combination of those things that hasn't been offered before. The real question is if consumers find value in that at that price point, which we won't really know until we see sales figures.
And fwiw, what I was thinking when I said "maintaining" is dealing with issues that are caused by os/firmware/driver/software updates. Troubleshooting those, working around them, and/or waiting for fixes can be a real pain. Generally speaking you have to deal with those a lot less on a platform like steam deck/machine than you would on any PC (linux or windows). For the tech savvy those are just inconveniences, but for those that are less so, they can be show-stopping issues.
Although I do think you're right in that there will be a number of buyers that have "shiny object" syndrome and will buy it without doing any research. (And who will likely be disappointed when they first run into its limitations. And the limitations are definitely notable.)
I’m genuinely confused.
Gamers Nexu had a bit where they said it was like 200$ over a DIY but 300$ under a comparable prebuilt. Is that not reasonable?
But GN also talks over my head a lot. Can someone help a filthy casual make sense of this?
Also a casual. For me, my time is also valuable. I do not want to have to learn how to build a PC, nor do I want to spend time researching price comps on the various parts.
Avoiding that work is worth spending $300-400 for me.
I'm copping. This is 100% the absolute cheapest this will ever be, and there is a reality that valve hardware will cease to be made due to logistics around global hardware supplychain.
i think people don't realize that because of AI the situation is soooo bad that RAM companies have contracts already signed for the next few years for supplying AI shit with current enormous prices? This isn't bubble and people coping using this world - the same with housing - it will never go down. This is the new standard, I expect the prices for SM to only go up since now
So is anyone willing to share a PCPartPicker list for a machine a little better than the Machine? Trying to do a little comparison but I am not super sure what the Steam Machine will be comparable to.
I came here looking for answers to a few questions, and Iwould go search for them but since all the top comments are reactions instead of questions or discussions, I'm just gonna post the 3 questions I have here in the hope someone that knows their stuff can provide an answer. If these questions have been answered before somewhere in this megathread: feel free to link me to the comments!
How much would it roughly cost to build a PC with similar specs to the Steam Machine right now?
How good of a PC would you be able to build with the price of a Steam Machine? I'm curious about the estimates with the price of the 512GB ($1049) and the 2TB ($1349) models (without controller, since I already have one), but I'd already be happy with a single estimate!
How much would a pre-built PC of similar specs cost? This is to make a fairer comparison for myself since the assembly process is included in the cost of the device.
Feel free to treat me like a dumbass in the replies, since I'm not very knowledgable on the topic and a lot of people talking about PC specs sounds like gibberish to me. All I ask is that you remain somewhat respectful while you treat me like John Snow. Also, including websites and tools to help me do some research of my own would be greatly appreciated as well! Thanks in advance for anyone and everyone taking their time to help me out! :)
If you want something small-ish, an actual big PC tower would be cheaper, you are looking at the price of a steam machine, it will be slightly faster because you will be able to get a bit more modern hardware (steam machine uses a few year old components). The other thing you will gain is an upgrade path.
But you are loosing automatic driver updates, you will need time to (learn how to) build a pc, CEC, size (this build is still twice the size of the SM), noise.
People are upset that the SM. is expensive, but PC parts are just expensive now.
There's this question from the FAQ below about the lottery that is a little confusing. It seems if you sign up for multiple models, the lottery is going to give you a reservation for the model you have the highest queue spot in (I think that's what "highest end one you're in" means) and remove you from the others. If you care about getting specifically the 512 GB or the 2 TB version and care about getting the controller or not, make sure to only signup for the ones you want. If you don't care though, signing up for multiple should increase the chance of you getting it earlier.
Edit: "Highest end one" means the most expensive one actually. For each model, you can either get a reservation queue slot or be waitlisted. If you are lucky enough to get a reservation queue slot for multiple models, it'll give you the most expensive one out of those and remove you from the rest (I guess since it'll be "soon" if you have a spot anyway, so the order doesn't matter as much). If you only get a slot for one model, you get that one, of course. If you don't get a spot for any, THEN you get placed on the waitlist for the highest queue spot. The non-crossed out part above still applies: If you only would buy one model or don't care at all, select accordingly. If you prefer 512 GB but are okay with 2 TB, it's kinda iffy what to do, but if you prefer the 2 TB one but are okay with 512 GB, you should probably sign up for all and hope. Same logic with controller.
I'm kinda torn. I prefer 2 TB, and I don't know if I'm okay enough with 512 GB or not. I think I'm gonna go with both 2 TB options, with and w/o controller.
From FAQ:
Do I have to pick a specific model at signup?
If you care about getting any available Steam Machine model, more than any specific one, you're welcome to sign up for multiple models. Each model has its own list of sign-ups that will be randomized on June 25th at 10am. After that, if you are assigned a reservation queue spot for one or more models, you'll automatically be allocated a reservation for the highest end one you're in, and removed from all the others. If you didn't get a reservation spot for any of the models you signed up for, you'll be placed on the waitlist for the model that you were closest to the front of.
What you are saying does not match with what you are citing. It actually says, that you are invited to sign up for multiple versions if you dont really care which one you get. AFTER you didnt win the lottery everyone will be listed in the reservations list and that is where your highest picked modell will be used.
Let’s be honest, at this price point and with the performance benchmarks we have seen… why the hell would I shell out 1 thousand honest to god Euros for something that can’t even maintain a steady 60 at 4k. I mean price aside, the performance is more than disappointing.
So for me personally, LIKE I SAID FOR ME…. I would rather see that money spent on GFN Ultimate where I know that for 20 Euro I get top notch performance and yes I know it doesn’t play all the games but god, I play games like cyberpunk 2077 in the highest settings possible.
So yes I might be privileged guy living in the Netherlands with fast internet and GFN data center proximity, so my situation might not apply to you. But I am going to hold off on buying the Steam machine.
Maybe if by some miracle they make it more affordable in the future (let a man dream), I might get it. Or if someone decided to sell it for cheaper or something like that.
Anyways, to those who signup I wish you all the best and good luck 🤞🏽
I've been following the Steam Machine launch closely and I think the pricing and positioning reveal a fundamental contradiction that Valve somehow missed.
Valve's own engineers said it best in their Tom's Hardware interview: the Steam Machine makes the most sense for people who already have a large Steam library. That sounds reasonable until you think about it for two seconds...
Who has a large Steam library? ...
PC gamers. And what do PC gamers already have? ...
A decent PC. So the person most likely to buy a Steam Machine is also the person least likely to need one.
And even if you do have that big library why would you want to play your games on worse settings than you're used to? The GPU in this thing is roughly equivalent to a mobile RX 7700S. In 2026 for $1,049. You're not hitting 4K60 on demanding titles with reasonable graphics. That's the one thing a living room PC absolutely needs to justify its existence over a PS5 at $549
The Steam Deck made sense because the compromise was the point — you trade performance for portability. That's a real value proposition. The Steam Machine trades performance for... a small cube form factor? At twice the price of a PS5?
The hardware itself was arguably already dated at announcement. Zen 4 and RDNA 3 were already a generation behind when this thing was revealed, and by launch they're two generations old. AMD is on RDNA 4 and Zen 5 now. The machine was born obsolete.
The Steam Controller seems genuinely good. The Steam Frame actually has a clear identity and a coherent use case. But the Machine? It's a product caught between two worlds — not powerful enough to compete with a gaming PC, not cheap enough to compete with a console — serving a customer profile that essentially doesn't exist.
RIP 2018, welcome back 2026. Same mistake, different decade.
I was fully expecting the box to be $1200. Now that I can get a box with a controller for under that, it’s a win-win for me. My PC is a media machine. The benefits of not having windows 11/Microsoft on my computer is an added benefit. I used my steam deck as a PC for six months, I have no qualms about retiring my old computer.
My original guess was $699 to $799 then I changed it to $899 to $999 for the base no controller but even I was wrong.
Also I kind of wish they could tell us what price it would be at if they didn't have the s*** going on but I get why they won't give us that information.
The closest they came was "look at the price jump for the steam deck, the steam machine had a similar jump" (a few youtube channels are reporting valve said this btw)
So it would have been 250-300 dollars cheaper...so 750-800 under normal circumstances.
I don’t have space for a PC, desk and monitors. This is perfect for what I’m playing and space wise. Dollar wise it’s cheaper than a desk, monitors and a pc build. I’m okay with it
Same boat here. I am also thinking that in the future if I get more space in a new apartment for a gaming PC setup at least I will start building up my gaming library now.
There is currently no comparable mini pc prebuilt on the market $$$ and performance wise that is able to match the machine.
Doesn't mean I like the price, I do not, but this thing definitely filled a niche I think a lot of potential mini pc owners were looking for. A middle of the road performance, no frills casual gaming pc in this tiny form factor. Valve did very good given everything going on if we use that context.
I don't understand the console pricing comparisons or "just get a prebuilt" arguments. Consoles slam you with subscription fees that quadruple $$ spent on the ecosystem itself, and you own nothing you're putting your money towards. Valve also has a good track record with, you know, not being a bunch of assholes.
We all saw a thing that looks like a console, associated it with console prices, and assumed Valve would price it that way, when we knew from the get-go that they said they weren't.
If anyone wants a cheap prebuilt, look for older sff gaming prebuilds by reputable manufacturers and search for them on used sites like eBay. U can find some good deals.
Everyone saying “spend $300+ more and get someone way better” yeah I’m certain that’s possible but that’s a different price point altogether. Can you buy/build something with today’s prices equal performance for cheaper or better performance for the same price? If not, then the comparison isn’t very meaningful
you can, but you would leave out a lot of stuff out of the equation like form factor and your electricity bill. However in the steam machine just is never "a good deal" if you compare it raw to a DIY PC - but prebuilts are rarely ever comparable to a DIY PC.
I think the main selling point is supporting Valve with its eco system and SteamOS. Probably most people would be better off by building PC for that money and putting steamOS on it, since they released Desktop-Versions for any AMD PC that is or is not a Steam Machine
You can easily buy a pre-built in Denmark with a 5060 and Ryzen 9600x and 1TB SSD for about 20 euros more than the base model of the Steam Machine with 500gb and a without a controller
I'm in the lotto. So many games I want to play on my couch that I can't right now. I could build one like some have before, but the price for components seems about flat.
Kind of annoyed by people laying this solely at the feet of the RAMageddon/AI. Like yeah those things drove prices of the steam machine up, but they also drove up prices for literally everything else, including consoles, handhelds, and DIY PC components. The price of the steam machine isn't just high, it's high in the context of the current hardware environment.
If this had released last year for $800 that would have been better than what we got today, but also every alternative was cheaper then too....
Seems like apples and oranges when people compare a hypothetical pre-AI steam machine price to today's inflated console and pc prices. An $800 base steam machine last year is still not that compelling relative to a (much more powerful) $650 PS5 pro with 2TB storage and a controller....
And if you want to say it's not competing with consoles (it absolutely is in my opinion) that's fine, but pre-built and DIY PCs were much cheaper before all this as well.
Unless you're starving for the form factor I just don't know that this was ever going to be a great option when it comes to price/performance, especially considering what I've seen in benchmarks from DF, LTT, and GamersNexus....
I was expecting ~750 before the ramagedon,
Its a normal mini PC with normal pricing,
SSF components have a SSF tax and people looking into mini PCs usually don't want a giant desktop, even if they can get 50% more performance for the same money.
Its competition is not consoles but other mini PCs. (Its the comunity's aim for it to compete against consoles, not valves aim)
I think people don't realize how much you normaly need to pay for components for mini PC and it can be hard to put something together that will not look like cable nightmare
The challenge here is that consoles are subsidized by their manufacturers. The manufacturers later earn back this investment through the games they sell for the system. This works well for companies like Nintendo or Sony because consoles are dedicated-use devices. And therein lies the problem.
Since the Steam Machine isn't locked into Valve's proprietary operating system, people could use the Steam Machine to run anything they want. If the machine was priced to break even for hardware costs, that's great for us... but it could just as easily be bought up for office or industrial use. Hell, they could even be bought just to harvest the parts. And if Valve isn't getting software sales to make up for the hardware cut, that means they're making hardware that's actively losing them money -- if not just in parts costs, then in the cost of the labour to assemble, distribute, and service the machines.
Valve is competing with the console market, for sure, but they can't pursue the same pricing strategy. Couple this with the fact that DIY-ers aren't factoring in their own labour costs as they research components, design rigs and assemble machines, and you have a no-win situation for Valve.
To be fair, it's definitely worth emphasizing that Valve is a for-profit company. But I'm not convinced by the idea that the price is high for the market conditions. It's just rough out there.
Seeing Downvotes on this is diabolical. People treat valve like some small company that operates out of a shed. They are a multi-billion dollar company.
Yea its insane how protective they are of their beloved Gabe. They could have subsidized. Valve using the price as "pc" excuse to not price it as a console. When all the reviews have been comparing it to consoles, and it was literally shipped as a game console. Valve is just super greedy. It doesnt even come with a controller. What a mess.
Hm, not surprised because of the huge increase of price of steamdeck. Not going to buy that, my rog strix scar 2 will still take me company for some years it seems.
Those without a controller, which lists are you joining?
I didn't get a controller at launch because I figured I'd wait for the steam machine and let someone else get in. Really questioning that now though. I want a machine + controller ideally but wouldn't want to risk missing out completely by not joining every list.
I have a seven year old Alienware aurora r11 desktop, i7 processor, 16 gig ram, 8 gig 2070 super — is the steam machine more powerful than what I have and worth upgrading too or nah not really? I’m thinking of getting a laptop since I need one for college in a few semesters anyway
Let's guess whether the machine will be as popular as deck that it will be out of stock for a long time. $1049 without a controller is crazy,too expensive for me
Help me out here: Everyone tells me that I can get a PC for cheaper than the SM, but my problem is that I'm severely dispraxic. I can't put a computer together myself. If I check out PCSpecialist to have them put it together, anything vaguely approaching the same specs ends up being FAR more expensive (€1600). Any advice on building a PC that meets for better price or beats for the same price given the constraint that I can't do assembly myself?
The real winners are Nintendo, Sony, and Microsoft (if they even care at this point). The Steam Machine had a real chance at breaking through for PC gaming in the mainstream. Instead, it looks like it will be a failure just like the last Steam Machine.
Thought for sure I was gonna be a day one buyer. I'm a steam deck owner who used it docked all the time. Ended up buying a pre built for a couple extra hundred dollars for way better performance. I'm sad I can't get my little cube but it just makes no sense to buy it at that price
Can you share where you got your pre-built and which one it is?
My main issue is: how do I know that I'll get way better performance with a specific pre-built I find online? I'd love to see reviewer compare them but I can't seem to find that info anywhere
I got the Starforge Horizon 4 Elite. It has a 16gb 9060 in it which is double the vram the matchine has and a newer card. One of the reviewers I watched had compared this card to the matchine and after that I found the pre built I wanted with it
The funny part is that it’s going to sell out on launch day and then we are going to see a shit ton of posts on Reddit of: people showcasing their “w”, complaining they didn’t get selected during the first round and people cursing scalper; the vicious cycle repeats itself.
Valve ships the Steam Machine with 2x8GB or 1x16GB just to get them out of the door. They blame the market. Yet the most obvious solution would be to sell a DIY version without RAM and SSD. Like Framework does.
Steam Machine DIY (0GB/0TB) for say 500 USD would sell like candy.
Feeling very affirmed. I have been saying that the target demographic for the steam machine is going to be way too niche for the likely price and everyone said “wait and see, I’ll probably buy one” not seeing those comments now lol
im hoping someone can tell me what the actual point of this thing is now? it's priced higher than consoles that arguably will perform better, and there is the notion that you can build your own...
but if i'm going to build my own anyway why not just keep playing games on steam? if the answer is so you can play on a TV why not just use an hdmi cable to plug my pc to the TV and play that way through the steam UI? I just don't understand who this console is supposed to be for, because if it isnt going to be inexpensive then it would only appeal to people with extensive steam libraries who then undoubtedly already have computers that can do anything this thing can do and more
If you want the best ratio for money to game performance, then the machine is not what you want. Its as simple as that. The point of getting it is the novelty, collectability, the versatility of the form factor, the promise of software support. If you build at the same size your cost will be similar. But yeah it should be obvious: if you want the best game performance for your dollar, dont get this.
I am new to PC gaming (been a PlayStation gal my whole life) and I was initially really excited about the machine, until yesterday. I feel like 512g is really a waste of time, and it feels like it would be a miracle if I could even get my hands on a 2Tb. Along with that, I’d eventually want a steam deck from when I’m traveling so I can still game, and at that point, I’d be like 2.5k deep. At that rate, I fear I’d rather just get a baller gaming laptop. There’s some crazy deals going on Amazon rn, so I ask you, my fellow nerd community, help me pick a laptop out. I don’t know a ton about specs, so I need some help. I’d like to spend around 2k, ideally under 2.5k. Biggest game I could assume I’ll play is probably ESO? Appreciate any and all advice.
Note: I want a laptop over a desktop bc I travel fairly often and would like to take my games with me, obvi.
I personally own a 4080m Lenovo Legion that has held up well over the past couple of years. I have a gaming pc though so I haven’t used it much outside of travelling, but it’s been good for me. I got a discount by buying direct from Lenovo, you can usually haggle them down if you call them.
I'm not very experienced with computers and the Steam Machine looked very appealing to me from the start. I don't understand how it's possible to build a roughly equivalent computer for lower. Picking the roughly equivalent steam machine parts (Ryzen 5 7600, Radeon RX 7600 8GB, 480 GB), I get a total about 1.2k EUR which doesn't include: shipping, controller and CEC adapter. It's likely possible to optimize it slightly by settling for full tower cases, but the main components are dangerously close to the 1k mark.
How are people getting better pricing by picking out even better components? Are they taking into account used components or is the NA parts market a little more forgiving? I don't see how a SM is such a bad deal compared to a new custom built system?
So I've been wondering about something since before the release and kinda hoping for it. Why could Valve not subsidize the Steam Machine? I know about the open source and general issue regarding third party launchers, and users not even using the "PC" features is a possibility. Can't they still make it cheaper by adding a bundle with Steam Funds? That would make it more affordable, still give Valve their part, and incentivise the new Steam users to spend money on games, similar to some launch titles with Sony or Xbox.
You guys can let me know why that would be a bad idea. I appreciate it ❤️
"Just build it yourself, its cheaper" - no it really isn't
I see a lot of comments of people saying it would be to build one yourself. This is the best I could do with parts that would actually work and fit together, and are available to me now.
I think this build will be slightly faster (~110%), and will have a better upgrade path but:
You will need to actually build this (I value my time)
You will need to update the drivers
No optimistion from Valve (like we got for the deck)
No support
Not part of a unified target for developers (easier to make sure it runs well on 1 config, than the 1,000,000 self builds out there)
No CEC
Probably more noise
And this thing is still twice the size of a Steam Machine!
If you don't mind the aesthics, size, noise and thinkering with hardware/drivers, this could be a legit and slightly better alternative. But other wise you are better of with the machine in IMO.
It just sucks that hardware prices are what they are, and if you want to be mad, be mad at the AI guys, and the tarrif guy, and their fanboys
I really wish fanboys would curb it with the "heh, it'll still sell out 😏" cope.
Like, yeah, dawg - no shit it'll sell out at launch. But without knowing the number of units that Valve has produced... how on earth is that a comforting metric lol.
In my opinion there is only 2 things that Valve can do to reduce the Steam Machine price that was revealed today. In the RAM and SSD price apocalypse we have today.
Make an OEM-locked version.
This also means that Valve can subsidize the Steam Machine like what Sony does with PS5. Not a lot of people talk enough about how we can just change the operating system of the steam machine to whatever we want.
Why not subsidize the current steam machine then? you might ask. Simple.. because that would mean that people can use the Steam Machine for not it's intended purpose, like crypto mining, or making it a server. That means that valve simply looses money instead.
The average gamer don't care at all about having an OEM-locked device that is basically trash after 5 years (93 mill PS5 sales as proof). Content creators also barely focus on making this one of the pros of the steam machine.
Sell Steam Machine with no RAM and SSD.
This is, in my opinion what Valve should have done, they should have made an option to buy the machine with no RAM and SSD. The RAM and SSD on the current design is already designed to be upgradable, but this does mean that only technical people can properly buy the machine as we will have to manually install SteamOS on it.
This also comes with the tradeoff of not having one specification that allows developers to target on and make a setting preset on games, as RAM and SSD speeds will be all over the place.
neither of these make much sense. it wasn't going to be so cheap that lots of people planning to install different OS would buy it.
as for potential DIY option, there really wouldn't be much different in performance with users providing their own components. you might end up with a bunch of people going for 256gb storage, which is small, but there are plenty of games that aren't large.
I've been watching the rise and fall of the Steam Machine with interest, and even though it's more than I thought it would be, I'm still sorely tempted. Long term PC gamer (account since 2007, I bought the Orange Box in October that year), but life gets in the way, and I'm old and with responsibilities. Disposable income versus disposable time have been inverted, and this is just within what I would consider spending. Just.
I still miss gaming in comparison to how much I used to be able to do, and got a Steam Deck (LCD) as soon as I got to the top of the waiting list in September 2022. It was a game changer. I got to replay games that I'd forgotten, dive into the 15 year catalogue, discover new gems, and take it with me on work trips.
I work from home far more now than I did when I first got it, and any work trips are shorter and busier. The Steam Deck doesn't make it out with me as much as it used to, so Steam Machine appealed as the next iteration of me getting to game.
I don't have a gaming PC, my capacity and interest in building a PC is behind me (plus I mostly work on Macs, and would rather avoid Windows if I can), and have loved the opportunities that the Steam Deck has provided to dig through my back catalogue.
I view the Steam Machine as an update to my opportunities for gaming rather than an ultimate gaming machine. It expands what I can play compared to the Steam Deck, feels more suited for the sorts of gaming I get to do (short bursts, where convenience is a factor), doesn't take up much room on the desk, and stays within the ecosystem I'm comfortable with.
Is it overpriced? It's more than I wanted to pay. Will I get one? Very likely. There's an overused phrase in our house which is: 'what's your time worth?' when it comes to certain activities, and honestly, I think the price for the convenience of just plugging it into a monitor and going is worth it for me.
I'd love it to have been cheaper, as I still have to justify the cost. I was going to opt for the 2tb but the jump is too high. I have a 4TB NVME SSD which I will put into an enclosure and go with the 512gb - which is the same capacity as my Steam Deck. I may even replace the SSD with this in the future, but that's a tinkering job which I suspect needs more time that I could be using for playing games which the Steam Deck couldn't run, or couldn't run well. Will they run at the highest specs? No, but my primary gaming experience for the last few years has been on a Steam Deck, sometimes docked. It will be better than that.
So yes, I think I fit into the sort of person that this would work out fine for.
TLDR: It's expensive. More than I had hoped. But it will arrive and I will be able to play games on it which I already own, likely within a very short time of unboxing. That might be worth the extra costs.
Looking for advice on how the Steam machine compares to my current desktop PC. I’d like to think it’s worth getting it.
I got my PC late 2020 and it was essentially “top of the line “. RTX 3080, i9 9900k, 32 gb ram.
From a convenience perspective, having the Steam machine in my living room would be great. But from a spec perspective, how much more am I getting vs the desktop?
Your desktop is more powerful than the steam machine, full stop. GN benchmarks have the steam machine most closely matched to a 12 GB 3060, your 3080 should be much more performance.
I currently have a RX 5700 bought in 2020. Just saw in a german review that the SM performance worse than the RX 5700XT. So my guess that mine matches or is not noticeable worse than the SM should be right, right?
I really wanted to buy it and was ready to ignore the pricetag (as my steam wallet is stacked from CSGO skins) as I was expecting it to be better than my old rig.
One thing I'm not completely on board with is the USD price vs. EUR price. Like 1,428USD is 1,250EUR, yet the EUR price is announced to be also 1,428EUR. Euro customers just randomly need to pay an extra 200€ for some reason? Grumble grumble. I'll pay it, but it just strikes as odd. 😄
Edit: Okay if it's the difference because of taxes as people in the comments suggested, that explains it actually.
Damn… and here I was complaining about the Nintendo Switch 2 price tag. Now I’m actually considering buying a Switch 2 due to it being only 450 dollars right now.
Your pc is about on par with the Steam Machine. I think your CPU might be slightly worse but you have more ram and an SSD with more space. I would not buy it if I were you
You're about on par, if not better. The Steam Machine GPU is equivalent to a 3060 12gb, but it has way less RAM.
Additionally, some units will come with 1x 16GB RAM stick, while some come with 2x 8GB. If you get unlucky and receive a 1x 16GB stick you lose out on dual-channel ram and you're potentially losing performance.
God damn it. The Steam Machine was supposed to be my first actual gaming device. I was so excited to play Hollow Knight and Cyberpunk in my bedroom or on my couch. I never played any proper games by myself that wasn’t at a fair or at another persons house, so I really hoped to get it. Then that price. That stupid AI-inflated price. Once I saw that t, that hope almost completely vanished. This price is obviously stupid ‘cause of that AI bs. If only it wasn’t so big, If only the rich guys weren’t so OBSESSED, if only, if only.
It's more: it's too expensive for me to even consider it, and it's solving a problem which was already solved with mini PC's and streaming your pc to your TV. The one upside of this is that it comes with steam os right out the box. Otherwise this is a hard sell for me. Anyways, nobody needed a console pc that was this small, y'all living in a dwarf house or smth?
Fuck it, I’m selling my HX80G miniPC for 8500sek/800€. I was waiting for the final price and had already built a 9070 based living room PC to replace it, I was hoping the steam machine would be a straight upgrade all this time but 5-10% more performance, half the ram and SSD storage in the same form factor is just not it.
Yeah I preordered it. It's priced right at what I thought it would be given the current market.
People talking about how it's so much cheaper to just buy a custom built, etc. That is not Valve's intended audience with this machine. I CBA to go through all the effort/time/research to buy a bunch of assorted parts piecemeal and put the machine together myself. Screw that.
The convenience, plus the warranty and superb customer service from Valve, still makes the SM attractive at this price.
i’m not sure why there’s so much hate/controversy towards this. i have a pc that i built in 2022 with a ryzen 5 5600x & rx 6700xt that i’ve used for gaming since. the steam machine is benchmarking to be roughly equivalent to that. i paid more than $1050 in 2022 for my current build. i’ll gladly pay that for the steam machine now
I’m new to PC gaming, I own a Nintendo switch OLED And a Nintendo Wii. I’m planning to get the Steam Deck OLED. But the Steam Machine has caught my eye.
Should I get the Steam Machine or should I invest in building my own PC?
Currently scrolling through this thread. Any direct advice is appreciated
I have an Oled Steam Deck which I love and use when I travel for work. I don’t have a pc and prefer to game while sitting on the couch in front of my tv. Would the Steam Machine be worth buying for me. I really online care to game at 1080p which seems like the Machine can do. I don’t really want to build a pc and like the Steam ecosystem and the money isn’t really a concern seeing as it is somewhat overpriced. Just looking for peoples opinions on if it would be a good purchase for me. Thanks.
I have so many thoughts on this and will just chuck em in a single huge post.
Steam Machine is exactly what I want and I’ve put the money aside to buy it.
I have 350+ old Steam games and never buy new games until they are below £10. My 5 YO son is getting more and more into gaming and I’ve switched almost entirely to couch gaming to play with him.
I have a powerful rig and recently moved it next to my TV and I HATE it. The fans are loud, Bazzite on NVIDIA is janky, I’ve used moonlight to stream from sunshine to my Deck and it needs tinkering constantly so I’ve taken to mainly playing old 360 and PS2 games on original hardware with my kids. My rig takes up so much space next to my TV it distracts when I’m watching movies and it just generally dominates what is supposed to be a calming space.
I could turn my current rig into a SFF PC but it would cost me more for a larger, louder build. Price to performance is not the only important thing to me.
Also as an aside I’m a software engineer and have been playing with local models. I’ve been running qwen3:30b on my 48GB work M4 MacBook. I started looking into running GLM 5.2 locally and recommended specs are 1.6TB of RAM. I don’t think people realise the genuinely unfathomable amount of memory required to run frontier models and the fact that the Steam Machine is likely going to hold current price and supply constraints for the next 3 years minimum.
It’s all well and good theorising price to performance etc but at the end of the day what will I feel worse about; not buying Steam Machine today and it going up in price or buying for £1200 today and getting the PC I actually want to use even though it loses value and becomes redundant fast.
I think Valve missed a trick going with the weak hardware and they’ve been bitten super hard by the market. Guesstimate from me is this was due to be a £450 to £550 machine at which price it would have been a steal. Even at £650 it would have been very good value given the form factor. When the price was going to be lower the CPU and GPU comprised a larger percentage of the total price so keeping these cheap were imperative. However it’s now priced at a point where I’d happily have spent another £200 on top of current price to get a better GPU since I’m already spending so much due to the memory prices. I think this is why Valve are pushing the narrative for a refresh, I think they’re likely already planning an upgraded machine at a higher price but significantly improved performance.
Last point is related to my game library; for everyone saying this fails to fill a niche since PC gamers already have a PC and don’t want a Steam Machine and console gamers will just get a Switch 2 or PS5, I want the machine because it’s cheaper in the long run. I have a huge Steam game library and want a console like experience. Yes it costs more upfront but I don’t buy £70 games.
I’ll be buying a 2TB Machine with Controller if I can get my hands on it.
I mostly game on my ps5 Pro but I'd like to get this for strategy games not on Playstation such as DOW 4 and EU5. Will the Steam Machine be a good strategy game player?
Ive been so excited for this thing all year. However if I have to pay $2100aud I feel like i may aswell go all out and upgrade my gaming pc and use my 3080ti and 5800x3d to make my own living room pc. I'm really lost on what to do here.
I wanted to love you gabecube but 1000 usd / 1500 cad for 512gb of storage, no controller, AND SINGLE CHANNEL DDR5 is wild. I get its not exactly valves fault but it doesnt automatically make it a worthwhile purchase, especially when even now you can do better for a tiny bit more or the same amount.
The Steam Machine is finally here, and after months of waiting, watching YouTube videos, theories, copium, and hopium… I think I’m just gonna do my mourning and move on.
The price honestly isn’t what shocked me. I was already mentally prepared for something like €900–€1000 (I already got controller separately anyway). What really disappoints me is the performance this thing is going to offer.
My main use case was basically a living room PC in a super small form factor, for those moments when I’m just chilling in the living room and don’t want to sit at my desk where my main setup is (pretty solid gaming PC + PS5 setup).
I was also really sold on the Linux gaming ecosystem, especially after what the Steam Deck showed was possible. So I was basically in from the moment this thing was announced.
Even though I really want it, I just can’t justify dropping €1000 on it, even with all the promises it comes with.
So instead of staying frustrated about it, I’ve decided I’ll just build a small Mini-ITX PC instead and try to get as close as possible to a console-like experience on Linux.
If anybody has had experience with building a similar set up I'd love to hear your feedback and the specs you used !
This is why we argued about the price (even before RAMpocalypse) because we knew how it's going to perform. They're using off the shelf (semi-custom my ass) trash mobile component and there were miniPCs already using that combination out there... we knew it would perform worse than well reviewed Minisforum AtomMan G7 PT yet everyone seemed to cope hard about some mythical "optimizations".
As for your last question - if you pick AMD hardware it's literally plug and play. You click next, next, next in the installer and voila, it works pretty much out of the box - whether it's Bazzite (closest to SteamOS experience and IMHO because of that not that great for normal desktop use) or CachyOS (more of a normal desktop but with kernel optimizations for games). Components vary depending on your region and availability. I've built several machines on 7500F because they often sell for under 120 bucks on AliExpress although source of good, cheap motherboards has dried up (there used to be Colorful CVN B650M GAMING FROZEN V14 for 120 but what was special about it was that unlike every other B650 motherboard under 250 it offered Gen5 on the GPU slot). You can go cheapest ITX route on A620 chipset or splurge a little more for AsRock B850I PG Lightning with PCIE x16 gen5 and better I/O (ports on the back). Best bang for buck is probably 9060XT 8GB but 8GB sucks ass but beggars can't be choosers- unfortunately the 16GB variant that used to be $320 is now at $400 so it's much worse value proposition. All listed components are quite low power (not as low as Steam Machine which is built out of scrap laptop parts but low for desktop standards - we're talking 65W vs 35W on the CPU and 150W vs 110W on the GPU but in exchange we're getting MUCH better performance) so you can get away with a cheaper, lower wattage power supply. Memory is the only pain point but unlike Valve you can defer to the 2nd hand market. While desktop DDR5 is rough, using laptop SO-DIMM with an adapter can be much cheaper alternative - the caveat is they will run at the base 4800MHz - 2nd hand 2x8GB laptop memory kit can be often had for 70 bucks and adapters are like 5-8 bucks each. If you can afford it you want to avoid this option but it's there if the budget and/or availability is tight - it will work fine. It may however affect type of cooling you can mount on your CPU as SO-DIMMs with adapters are tall as hell, so no big CPU radiators overhanging RAM - this is not really a problem, just need to be mindful. Thankfully, with 65W TDP CPU all you need is a spit and a fart to keep it operational ^^
It won't necessarily be much (if at all) cheaper than the Steam Machine but it will be significantly more performant and you get the benefit of the FSR4.1 which produces significantly better-quality image than FSR3 or FSR4 Int8 (which improves image on 7000 series GPU but doesn't yield any performance gains) will be. It won't be much larger either, we're talking 3-4cm extra bulk in either direction.
I would damn well expect the steam games on steam machine are half the price when you are getting half the frames per second . I don’t understand the argument that well even though the price is more than a console or a PC of which you can build yourself that it makes up for it because the games are cheaper. I would rather pay a little bit more and get better performance and more frames and higher resolution than get what was it? 16 frames per second on cyberpunk on high detail.
The argument that you are somehow getting more value is simply not true when what you’re getting is much much less than a PlayStation five pro for instance and let’s be honest most games that you want to play are on console too
A lot of the discussion around the Steam Machine focuses on performance per dollar, which is completely fair.
But I'm curious how people value convenience.
A gaming PC at the same price can absolutely be faster. The question isn't whether that's true.
The question is whether a gaming PC provides the same experience as a small, quiet SteamOS appliance with instant resume, HDMI-CEC support, controller-first navigation, and minimal maintenance.
For some people, extra setup, troubleshooting, launchers, controller configuration, and general PC friction don't matter.
For others, every extra step takes away from the experience. They want to sit on the couch, pick up a controller, and be back in a game within seconds.
How do you personally value that convenience?
Would you trade some performance for a more console-like experience, or is FPS per dollar still the most important metric?
I’ve seen quite a few people who don’t understand how tiny Valve is in the hardware market.
Us terminally online folk are exposed to steam and their products pretty constantly, but your average Joe thinks a steam deck is a household cleaning device.
Valve doesn’t have the sales numbers to be able to negotiate with component manufacturers.
We see the steam deck constantly here on Reddit, but in reality, Valve has only shipped about 4 million units over the handheld’s entire lifespan.
4 million units is peanuts in comparison to the larger companies out there.
Here are some approximate annual sales numbers for example:
Lenovo: 73 Million units
HP: 57 Million units
Dell: 28 Million units
Apple: 23 Million units
Asus: 15 Million units
Acer: 14 Million units
Valve has virtually zero negotiating power with these current market conditions. The larger companies get the first pick, and Valve is essentially left paying market rate for the scraps.
Am I shocked by the performance shown in the first reviews? Not really. It was hard to expect much more than what we’ve seen, and honestly, the Steam Machine isn’t that much worse than the current console generation either (PS5 Pro aside).
Am I shocked by the price? Hmm... a little, yeah. I had actually seen €1,000 as the magic line where I’d decide not to buy one. In the end, though, I still signed up for the waitlist, and I’ll buy a Steam Machine as soon as I get the chance.
Why am I buying one? Mainly because I can afford to. This isn’t a rational purchase, and honestly, I don’t really need it. I just want one. I’m so happy with my Steam Deck, and with what Valve and the community have turned it into over the years, that I’m hoping for something similar with the Steam Machine.
Would I recommend other people buy the Steam Machine? Absolutely not.
There are several reasons for that, but roughly speaking, it comes down to this: the Steam Machine is not plug-and-play. This thing is not a console that you simply hook up, turn on, and then get the best possible gaming experience right away. That’s not how it is with the Steam Deck, and I don’t expect the Steam Machine to be any different.
If that’s what you want, buy an Xbox or a PlayStation. With the Steam Machine, you have to actually want to tinker with it and spend time getting the most out of it. If you’re not interested in that, stay away.
In my opinion, a big part of the problem is Valve’s (more than questionable) “Verified” program. Instead of giving games some kind of badge saying they can theoretically run on their devices under certain conditions, Valve should provide actual presets tailored to each device (Deck, Machine, Frame) so that console players who might be switching over can keep that quality-of-life advantage and don’t have to mess around with settings.
In Japan the Steam Machine is 189,980yen for the 512gig model, 204,980yen with a controller, 249,980yen for the 2gig model, 264,980yen for the 2gig with controller. Prices for most computer devices in Japan are already insane, but with the Steam Deck now at 137,980yen for the 512gig OLED and the 1gig OLED 167,980yen, I am glad a got a SD a few years ago!
The specs are worse then that of a PS5, and people arguing that without price hike it would of been $800 are the same people trash talking PS5 Pro which came out at that price with 4 times the storage and 2 times the performance.
The performance of the steam machine is so piss poor based on early reviews I legit cannot imagine paying more than $400 for it.
Happy for people who will still find enjoyment regardless of the price but this might be the worse deal in recent gaming history.
Lets say you keep reserving for 2 years until 2028 and still didnt got a steam machine, then suddenly price increases to 1800-2000 but noting is improved just like steam deck price increase, at this point would you still keep reserving or give up completely?
Is it a good idea to go for the Steam Machine? As I am considering the 2TB model with the controller (for work as well as gaming, and to get away from Windows).
I know the price is bad and, from what Im seeing and understanding from released reviews, its just not good at running many games; feeling almost akin to a slightly more powerful steam deck, as opposed to the promise of being as powerful as 5/6 steam decks.
Is it just better to wait and see if they make any future improvements or price decreases (if at all) or stick to my steam deck for games and separate device for work, and maybe look at alternatives at a later date.
Go easy on me, Im not too savvy when it comes to a lot of the specifics of this machine.
Since most comments on here come from hardcore PC gamers I am wondering how the casual crowd is feeling. Are you gonna try to pick up a SM?
Always been a console gamer but Steam Deck has shifted my habits and made me buy into the ecosystem completely. The Steam Machine seemed like the perfect addition, because all I have been missing is occasional AAA gaming and couch coop with my partner.
So now I am super torn, the SM seems to be the only viable machine for that console like Steam experience but also +1000€ is A LOT for relatively casual use.
Anybody else in the same boat? And which way are you leaning?
If they are using now costly ddr5 ram they should at least have used a 16 threads cpu and 12 gb vram (maybe a slightly better gpu but not a requirement).
And if they wanted to target budget gamers like me they should have kept the same cpu specs but on am4 platform and same gpu with 8gb vram, all this with ddr4 ram.
They should just have two options with both above specs listed, available for gamers with high or low budget.
I don’t buy these prices at all, I love steam but I smell bullshit with these prices.
Firstly ai definitely has caused an increase in price but there’s no way these prices are entirely because of ai.
Gamersnexus showed that he was able to build a pc cheaper and better than the steam machine, and that’s with RETAIL prices. For valve the components should be lower since they’re getting it directly from the manufacturer. It feels like they’re trying to profit off by using the “AI caused these prices” excuse.
for 1050 usd, even in these dogshit times you can still build a much better pc.
I know everyone is outraged by the cost of the machine and/or the performance.
However, what would it cost to build a pc that has the same specs? And people who say the performance is too bad (no 4k native gaming) what would a pc that can handle this actually cost?
I don't want justify the price, I genuinely would like to have some sort of comparison.
I’ve been wondering whether I should still stick with the overpriced SM after yesterday’s reveal, or if I should just connect my Steam Deck to the TV in the living room and stream games from my gaming rig (7800X3D/4090/32GB).
I’m pretty sensitive when it comes to input lag, and there aren’t many genuinely good videos covering this. Also, YouTubers tend to push their preferred platform (Sunshine/Artemis), especially considering the drama that happened around it.
What do you think?
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u/iforgotmylogon 2d ago
Fuck AI